Tunstall
is an interesting village situated in pretty country, and being about a mile
and a half south-west from Sittingbourne. It is in the North-East Kent
Parliamentary division, the upper division of the Lathe of Scray, the Hundred
and Union of Milton, the Sittingbourne Petty Sessional division, and the Sittingbourne County
Court
district. The parish is 1,200.123 acres in extent, and possesses two miles of
main roads and nearly three miles of district roads. The present rateable value
is £2,602 and the population in 1901 was 270, hut this is considered to have
slightly increased. The soil of the parish is rich loam and the sub-soil is
chalk. The chief crops are hops and wheat with some excellent cherry orchards.
The parish is ancient, and is said to have formerly belonged to Oswald in the
reign of Edward the Confessor. Sir Edward Hales resided in the parish, and the
Rev. Edward Rowe Mores, D.D., F.S.A., was born in Tunstall in the year 1730.
The rev. gentleman, afterwards Rector of the parish, wrote a history of
Tunstall and its antiquities. The principal landowners in the parish are Mr.
H. Lumley Webb and the trustees of the estates of the late William Elvy and
Charles Twopeny.

The
ParishChurch is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and is
in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, and has a tower containing a
striking clock and six bells. These bells were re-hung and the tower restored
in 1900. The Church is rich in Stained glass windows, there being no less than
twelve, some of them being excellent specimens of decorative work. In the
Church, too, are a number of brasses in fine preservation and tombs and
monument to members of the Hales family. Some ancient armour is also
preserved, and hangs over the tomb of Sir Edward Hales, upon which there is a
life-size recumbent effigy. There is also a monument to the late Rev. E. R.
Mores. The registers date from the year 1538, and there are 230 sittings in the
Church, of which 110 are free. The living is a Rectory, of the net yearly value
of £266, with nine acres of glebe and residence, and is in the gift of the Dean
and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral. It has been held since 1894 by the Rev.
Henry Edmund Tilsley Cruso, M.A., of WorcesterCollege, Oxford. The parish is in the Diocese of Canterbury, the Arch­deaconry
of Maidstone, and the Rural Deanery of Sittingbourne. The Rev. H.E.T. Cruso is
Rural Dean.

The
Guardian for the parish is Mr. Harry Greensted, and the Overseers are Messrs.
Richard William Cowper and Alfred Jones.

ParishChurch : Rev. H. E T. Cruso,
M.A., Rector.

Churchwarden,
Mr. Harry Greensted.

Organist,
Miss Spice.

Clerk
and Sexton. Mr. Edward Feakins.

Miss
Cruso trains the choir. Services are held on Sundays at 11 a.m.and 6.30 p.m. Holy Communion 8.30 a.m.
and after morning service.

Sunday
School, 10
a.m. and 2.30 p.m.

NationalSchool: This mixed and infant
School was built in 1846, and enlarged in 1894, and will now accommodate 65
children. There are 42 children on the books. Headmistress: Miss Helen
Thomson.

Assistant:
Miss Maud Hyder.

CoreCourtSchool: Gore Court is a fairly modern
residence built in the Italian style, and standing in a park of over 100 acres.
It was formerly the residence of the late Mr. Geo. Smeed. At the present time
the premises are used as a private collegiate school, of which Mr. A. J. de
Winton is principal.

Postal
Arrangements: There is no Sub-Post Office at Tunstall. There are two
deliveries a day at Tunstall: 6.45 a.m. and 12.15 p.m. Sundays, 6.45 a.m. Box cleared for despatches, 12.15 p.m. and 7.25 p.m. The nearest Telegraphic
and Money Order Office is at Sittingbourne.